Quote:
Originally Posted by chemgear
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/...ryId=113351145
"There has never been an Olympic Games that has made a profit," says Robert Barney, director of the International Centre for Olympic Studies at the University of Western Ontario.
Fold in all the costs and revenues, he says, "including federal allotments, municipal allotments, provincial or state allotments, it's always been that a debt has to be paid somewhere."
The additional costs include security and infrastructure improvements not included in the Olympic budgets but provided by government.
Actually, tangible economic benefits are elusive. The 1984 Los Angeles Olympics are often hailed for finishing with a $233 million surplus. But Barney says the calculation includes only direct costs of staging the games and not the indirect costs provided by city, state and federal governments. The same is true, he says, for the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary in Alberta, Canada, and the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Organizers of both games claimed multimillion-dollar surpluses, but neither included massive federal spending when adding up costs.
"No reasonable person thinks that the direct benefits of hosting the Olympic Games or any other mega event cover the costs," concludes Andrew Rose, an economist at the Haas School of Business at the University of California in Berkeley.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/...cs-since-1964/
Not only are they expensive, but Olympic Games don’t stay on budget. Between Grenoble 1968 and Nagano 1998, the sports-related cost overrun averaged 230%. Since the new millennium, this has fallen to 75% - hitting a low of just 2% at Beijing 2008.
However, recent Games in London and Sochi have reversed this trend. London’s costs overran by 76%, while Sochi’s by an enormous 289%.
|
Who the heck cares if there is a profit? It is not a question wether we profit or not, its about having the games here and what it will cost.
For a small hit on my taxes its a no brainer to me.
The no crowd is vocal because it's cool to be the guy that 'can see through the BS' and not be a sheep or whatever. These r the same ppl that end up getting their grossly overpriced iphones, cars and houses they dont need. But they will tell me that olympics are a waste of money. Whatever.
To me it's about the games. Sounds like we may have to pony up a bit in taxes, sure. But i am ok with that, because there will be tons of benefits. The infrastructure will be done at some point anyway surely it won't be free.
As for how the city handled it? Again, who the F cares. It's all about the end results and not childish grudges. Again, calling out the ones that are voting no because of how the process was handled. What does it matter? If u want to preach logic and dollars and cents then dont get emotions to get the best of u. And voting based on how the process went is all about emotions.
With the recession we are going through the Olympics would provide a nice boost to the city businesses. Let's not over analyze every dollar spent here. Unless you do the same at home, and honestly, who here lives for necessities only?
Flame away.